3 i6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The disturbance of the Perceptive Faculties is remarkably shown 

 in regard to Time and Space. Minutes seem hours, and hours are pro- 

 longed into years ; and at last all idea of Time seems obliterated, and 

 the past and present are confounded together. M. Moreau mentions 

 as an illustration, that on one evening he was traversing the passage 

 of the Opera when under the influence of a moderate dose of Hashish. 

 He had made but a few steps, when it seemed to him as if he had been 

 there two or three hours ; and, as he advanced, the passage appeared 

 to him interminable, its extremity receding as he pressed forward. But 

 he gives another more remarkable instance. In walking along the 

 Boulevards, he has frequently seen persons and things at a certain dis- 

 tance presenting the same aspect as if he had viewed them through 

 the large end of an opera-glass that is, diminished in apparent size, 

 and therefore suggesting the idea of increased distance. This erro- 

 neous perception of Space is one of the effects of the Amanita muscaria, 

 an intoxicating Fungus used by the Tartars ; a person under its in- 

 fluence being said to take a jump or a stride sufficient to clear the 

 trunk of a ti*ee when he wishes only to step over a straw or a small 

 stick. Such erroneous perceptions are common enough among Lu- 

 natics, and become the foundations of fixed illusions ; while in the 

 person intoxicated by Hashish there is still a certain consciousness of 

 their deceptive character. 



Though all the Senses appear to be peculiarly impressible in this 

 condition, yet that of Hearing seems the one through which the great- 

 est influence may be exerted upon the Mind, especially through the 

 medium of musical sounds. The celebrated artist, M. Theodore Gaul- 

 tier, describes himself as hearing sounds from colors, which produced 

 undulations that were perfectly distinct to him. But he goes on to 

 say that the slightest deep sound produced the effect of rolling thun- 

 der; his own voice seemed so tremendous to him that he did not dare 

 to speak out for fear of throwing down the walls, or of himself burst- 

 ing like a bomb ; more than five hundred clocks seemed to be striking 

 the hour with a variety of tones, etc., etc. Of course, those individuals 

 who have a natural or an acquh-ed " musical ear " are the most likely 

 to be influenced by the concord or succession of sweet sounds ; and in 

 such the simplest music of the commonest instrument, or even an air 

 sung by a voice in a mediocre style, shall excite the strongest emotions 

 of joy or melancholy, according as the air is cheerful or plaintive ; 

 the mental excitement being communicated to the body, and being 

 accompanied with muscular movements of a semi-convulsive nature. 

 This influence of music is not merely sensual, but depends, like that 

 of other external impressions, upon the associations which it excites, 

 and upon the habitual disposition to connect it with the play of the 

 Imaginative faculties. 



It is seldom that the excitement produced by the Hashish fixes 

 itself upon any particular train of Ideas, and gives rise to a settled 



